When you activate a reference account, your performance in Parqet changes – sometimes significantly. This can be confusing at first, but it isn't a bug. It's a direct result of what goes into the calculation. In this article, we explain why the numbers change and which view makes sense in which case.

A portfolio can consist of different asset classes: securities, cryptocurrencies, precious metals – and cash. Cash is a special asset class, because all other assets are valued in cash (e.g. euros). How cash affects your performance depends on whether you include it in your view or not.

If you only look at your securities, your portfolio value consists solely of the current market value of your stocks and ETFs. What happens to dividends and sale proceeds in this case?

Parqet still shows you dividends and realized gains and includes them in your gain and your return. But the portfolio value itself only contains the positions you currently hold, with their price gains.

As soon as you include cash in the view – ideally by activating it as a reference account – the picture changes fundamentally:

From the perspective of your overall portfolio, a dividend or a sell is therefore no longer a loss in value, but a shift between asset classes: from securities to cash. With dividends, you effectively shift value from the price (which drops by the dividend amount after the payout) to your account. With sells, you shift price gains into realized gains and, at the same time, the entire proceeds into cash. The total value of your portfolio is preserved – not because the money is in the securities, but because the reference account now reflects it.

As soon as cash is part of the view, the basis against which Parqet calculates your return changes. An example makes this clear quickly:

Example: You invested €1,000 in Apple and the position doubles to €2,000. Your price gain is €1,000.

Both numbers are correct – they just answer different questions. The 100% shows how well your choice of securities performed. The 1% shows how much you got out of your total assets. If a large part of your money sits in the account without earning interest, that naturally drags down your overall performance – and inflation eats into this money too.

This applies to the overall return and the TTWROR (true time-weighted rate of return). The IRR (internal rate of return) only uses your investments; cash doesn't count there. That's why the IRR stays the same whether you use a reference account or not.

In the web app, the line in the value chart is always called “Contributed capital”. Without a reference account, it shows your invested capital, i.e. the entry value of your assets. That's why, in the mobile app, this value is called “Invested” without a reference account. Without a reference account, Parqet can't tell whether the money comes from a dividend, a sell or freshly deposited capital.

With a reference account, the “Contributed capital” line in the value chart shows how much money was added to the portfolio from outside – either through transfers in of assets or through deposits to the reference account. A reinvested dividend does not increase the contributed capital, because the money was already in the portfolio.

You receive a €100 dividend with no tax deducted → The dividend is recorded as €100, and at the same time €100 is credited to the reference account. If taxes are deducted, only the net amount is credited. If you then buy a share for €100, the €100 is deducted from the reference account. Your invested capital increases by €100 (cash → asset), your contributed capital stays the same.

Both. It depends on what you want to analyze:

That's exactly what the filters in Parqet are for: you show or hide cash, crypto or individual asset classes. Your data doesn't change. Save the filter as a view, and it'll still be there the next time you open it. The asset class filter is available with a Plus or Investor subscription, not in the free Basic plan. Learn more: Views (in German).

A reference account can go negative, for example if deposits are missing. A negative cash balance counts toward the portfolio value, so the portfolio value drops by this amount. That's why you should check whether all deposits and sale proceeds have been recorded.

Parqet can create missing deposits for you: Open the reference account, click the three dots at the top right → “Manage”, and then “Generate transfers”. Parqet then creates deposits before buys that balance your account.

If you want to see the value without cash, hide cash with the “Asset class” filter.

Set up your Parqet portfolios the way they are in reality: one portfolio per broker, with brokerage account and reference account in one package. Just like your account at ING, Trade Republic or Scalable Capital looks. In the Overview, you then see all portfolios together. Use the filters to switch between pure securities performance and overall performance. This way, you avoid duplicate entries and keep both views available at all times.

📹 You can find a detailed video explanation of this topic by founder Sumit here on YouTube (in German).